Sunday, September 28, 2008 – Contempt, Scorn and Respect
That for which we find words is something already dead in our hearts. There is always a kind of contempt in the act of speaking. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. ~ Albert Einstein
Whoever imagines himself a favorite with God holds others in contempt. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll
There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation. ~ Herbert Spencer
True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart. It is not contempt; its essence is love. It issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper. ~ Thomas Carlyle
We assume that politicians are without honor. We read their statements trying to crack the code. The scandals of their politics: not so much that men in high places lie, only that they do so with such indifference, so endlessly, still expecting to be believed. We are accustomed to the contempt inherent in the political lie. ~ Adrienne Rich
Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever. It implies a discovery of weakness, which we are more careful to conceal than a crime. Many a man will confess his crimes to a friend; but I never knew a man that would tell his silly weaknesses to his most intimate one. ~ Lord Chesterfield
Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes the edge off admiration. ~ William Hazlitt
Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt. ~ Minna Thomas Antrim
By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy – indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction. ~ William Osler
I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts. ~ John Steinbeck
In handling men, there are three feelings that a man must not possess – fear, dislike and contempt. If he is afraid of men he cannot handle them. Neither can he influence them in his favor if he dislikes or scorns them. He must neither cringe nor sneer. He must have both self-respect and respect for others. ~ Herbert N. Casson
Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt. ~ Benjamin Franklin
The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt. ~ H. L. Mencken
Real nobility is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference. ~ Albert Camus
I feel your scorn and I accept it. ~ Jon Stewart
Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts. ~ Benito Mussolini
The terrible, cold, cruel part is Wall Street. Rivers of gold flow there from all over the earth, and death comes with it. There, as nowhere else, you feel a total absence of the spirit: herds of men who cannot count past three, herds more who cannot get past six, scorn for pure science and demoniacal respect for the present. And the terrible thing is that the crowd that fills the street believes that the world will always be the same and that it is their duty to keep that huge machine running, day and night, forever. This is what comes of a Protestant morality, that I, as a (thank God) typical Spaniard, found unnerving. ~ Federico Garcia Lorca
One of the surprising things in this world is the respect a worthless man has for himself. ~ Ed Howe
Men are respectable only as they respect. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Just Above Sunset 